The course will be held at the Centro d'Arte Verrocchio, Tuscany, between Friday evening July 31st to the morning of Thursday August 27th the course is designed for archaeologists but all are welcome. The central event will be the pouring of a bronze, following as closely as possible the hypothetical furnace and method described in my book, “Sculpture, the Art and the Practice” (2nd edit) but on a smaller scale. (We will be aiming to pour approx 50kg of bronze). All the materials and preparations will be as the Greeks would have done it as described in the book.) We will test the furnace and kiln by pouring small sculptures made by the students. The fuel will be wood, the process, lost wax.

The lost wax process is described in the book with 45 diagrams or photos but it is difficult for most people to understand the process completely until they have actually gone through it physically.

By good fortune The Centro d'Arte is situated about an hours drive from Murlo, an Etruscan site were gold was poured in the past and where a similar experiment with bronze took place recently but the results were disappointing. I am convinced that we can do better but you must understand it is still an experiment. We will certainly visit the site and the museum at Murlo. If time allows we can make a longer excursion to another experimental station - probably staying over night to visit Tarquinia ( Etruscan tombs and museum).

I estimate that there will be 10 to 12 man hours of digging and about the same of kiln and furnace construction; so I hope there will be at least 5 young and strong people on the course. There will be some preparatory lectures but the main thrust of the course will be practical, hands on experience of sculpture and bronze casting.  (Facilities for carving and modelling are available at the centre.)

The site for the construction of the kiln and furnace is a 5 minute walk from the centre on a disused farm. No firm timetable can be made as there will be intervals when we are waiting for things to dry, to get fired etc. Roughly we will start on Saturday morning with introductory lectures, a break for lunch and practical work constructing the kiln and furnace and sculpture in the afternoon. Sunday more of the same, we start work on the main mould of a wax prepared in advance by me. Followed by a talk on Roman and Greek carving technics. By Tuesday we would probably be ready to test run the kiln and furnace empty. Just to see how well the chimneys draw. Wednesday a trip to Murlo plus more of the same in the afternoon. Once the course is under way the pace can become more leisurely but there will still be plenty to do for the tireless (modelling, carving or tending the kiln). Friday is the day off usually spent in Siena. By Saturday or Sunday we should be ready to have a real firing and the day after a pouring of bronze. Then several days of bronze chasing and patinating. During this time we will be firing the main mould, working in shifts for 24 hours approx. Each melt will also be shift work for 3 to 4 hours (we hope). A film will be made of our efforts.

Towards the end of the course there might be time for the trip to experimental archaeology centre, Antiquitates, Civitella Cesi-Blera, and Tarquinia.

For those on a limited budget we may be able to arrange accommodation and self catering in the farm.

SCULPTURE THE ART AND THE PRACTICE -

Of interest to Archaeologists - The Riace Bronze Suppliment

The author, Nigel Konstam, has over 50 years experience of bronze casting and sculpture. It was this that made it possible for him to make a series of important discoveries on the Acropolis rock in Athens and in Rhodes. He found evidence that the trained archaeologists had missed or misinterpreted. None of the evidence was new. It was simply a matter of having the specialist knowledge of bronze casting that enabled Konstam to re-interpret the evidence unearthed by others. If you are going to specialize in the bronze age it is as well to understand the technology of bronze.

Konstam's Discoveries

1. The Greeks from the time of Phidias onwards cast from life to produce their life-size figures ( including The Bronzes of Riace which may appear to be over life-size but are in fact large men at 6' 6'' = 1.98m). It follows logically that waxes taken from the same mould could be adapted and used as the model for their stone-carving also.
2. A chimney on the Acropolis rock in Athens of the proportions of a 19thC industrial chimney (absolutely necessary for the production of their many colossal statues in bronze). A similar chinmey in Olympia, which is yet to be investigated.
3. A new interpretation of the diagonal casting pits found in Olympia which shows that the Greeks used a method similar but better than Cellini's method.
4. A new interpretation of The Foundry Cup (Berlin).
5. A way of recovering a good percentage of the wax used in the lost wax process used in Rhodes and almost certainly in Athens also.

These discoveries were published in The Oxford Journal of Archaeology in OAJ 21 (2002) and OAJ 23 (2004). The second edition of Sculpture the Art and the Practice covers the practicalities much more comprehensively with 45 photographs and many pages of related text.

The book Sculpture the Art and the Practice is available from Central Books:- This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (second edition only for archaeologists).

There are many other aspects of sculpture dealt with in the rest of the book that might interest archaeologists including the Roman method of producing multiple versions of a bust of Hadrian (and others).

The Workshop 14th - 27th Aug

Workshop courses present an excellent opportunity for painters and sculptors with some experience to come out to Tuscany to use our studio space without a tutor. The painting studios are exceptionally spacious and light with windows looking out over the picturesque landscape. There are interesting vignettes in and around the village, or wider more dramatic views from the ancient village ramparts. The sculpture studio is large and cool with facilities to work in clay, plaster or wax. Outside there is a terrace area shaded by vines and wisteria where students can carve. Prices for the workshop courses include use of the studio space, accommodation and breakfast for 13 nights with dinner including wine on 12 evenings.